Tuesday, 5 May 2015

'Dead Sheep' Park Theatre **

The late Baroness Margaret Theatre was not only regarded by
many as notorious and infamous for her political polices, but she is often
known for her close collaborations with her Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe.
However, what transpires when her associate perceives her current decision to
be utter poppycock? The Park Theatre’s production of Jonathan Maitland’s, ‘Dead
Sheep’, categorically was a disappointing piece of playwriting which was
accompanied by shameful performances.

‘Dead Sheep’ is set over the course of the end of Margaret
Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister where we are introduced to former Foreign
Secretary, Geoffrey Howe who is at the end of his tether with the Iron Lady’s opinions
about Europe. As well as, he is
aggravated by her aloof attitude to those in the Houses of Parliament. When he
returns to his treasured home, which is not actually owned by him to his gutsy
wife, Elspeth Howe, she makes it very clear that his work is making him
increasingly unhappy and that he should resign from his job immediately so that
he can retain his sanity, and with his wife’s assistance he is planning to
obliterate her with a harsh speech. Throughout
the performance, we can see how cut-throat the political arena is, such as the
fraught conversations that Geoffrey and Thatcher have with each other as she
declares that he and his wife must vacate their beloved home as he has been
demoted to Deputy Prime Minister. Conversely, when the national press and the
television broadcasters become involved, it enables you to see why Geoffrey is
not the most confident of speakers and interviewee, this is clearly established
when he is participating in a television interview with Weekend World’s, Brian Walden
(John Wark) and with Yorkshire press representative, Bernard Ingham (Tim Wallers). Noticeably, they’re
trying to seek out information as to expose his plans to destroy Thatcher with
a painful message to show his lack of support and confidence as leader of the
United Kingdom’s government. At the
finale, we see Geoffrey standing up in a televised transmission where he
presents his speech, we can see how much on effect it has on the Iron Lady, and
with this desertion from Geoffrey it leads to other members of her cabinet to
feel the same. Maitland’s narrative does appear quite disjointed in places as
he has concentrated more on the comedy aspect rather than focusing on the raw
and tense period that Geoffrey and Thatcher are experiencing.

One found the performances by the company of, ‘Dead Sheep’
to be somewhat mediocre as some moments became immensely dull and not that
amusing. Steve Nallon is substandard as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; especially
within the facial expressions which looked too cartoonish for my liking, but he
does provide some fetching elements such as the movements where we see how his
walk is identical to how Thatcher actually walked herself. James Wilby is satisfactory as the former
Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe; for example he becomes quite uncharismatic where
he is trying to be the driving force that can signify the downfall as the Iron
Lady but he does this unsuccessfully. Jill Baker is agreeable as Geoffrey’s
wife, Elspeth; exclusively when she tries to perform the role of his frosty
wife, additionally; she does tend to lose her harsh presence which means we
lose our focus on her portrayal.

Ian Talbot’s direction is unpleasant here as he has not been
able to create a thought-provoking show about the decline of a relationship that
became quite well-known and the characterisations at times seemed extremely under-developed
which made me quite despondent towards the entire performance. Morgan Large’s
design is horrible as there are too many scenes where the visibility became too
restricting and even the set looked like someone had designed it within a
matter of hours, and not up to the professional standard required for an Off
West End production. Overall, the experience of, ‘Dead Sheep’ was a disgraceful
portrayal of how Margaret Thatcher and Geoffrey Howe’s relationship ended.